Pizza peel for bread?

[palomalou]

If I put cornmeal on the peel and shake the loaf onto the stone in the oven, how do I not end up with an oven full of burnt cornmeal?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

What makes you think you won't?

[Lisa Shock]

This is why professional bakers sweep out their ovens after cooldown at the end of the day. You can also use a vacuum, as long as you make sure everything is very cool.

[sourdoh]

The burnt cornmeal is just part of the fun! 

 

 

This is why professional bakers sweep out their ovens after cooldown at the end of the day. You can also use a vacuum, as long as you make sure everything is very cool.

 

I saw a bakery in/around LA that had a shop vac fitted with an 8 foot metal tube at the end of the hose that they used to vacuum out their ovens! They had to wield it with work gloves on, but it worked beautifully.

[weinoo]

This is where, at least imho, parchment paper comes in very handy.

 

Parchment on the peel.  Loaf on the parchment. Slide into oven. After 5 minutes, remove parchment.

[Smithy]

This is where, at least imho, parchment paper comes in very handy.

 

Parchment on the peel.  Loaf on the parchment. Slide into oven. After 5 minutes, remove parchment.

I'm with you on the parchment. The burnt cornmeal was messy and smelly, and required far too frequent cleanup. However, I generally just leave the bread on the parchment for the entire bake. Do you get a crisper crust if you remove the parchment after the oven spring has set?

[weinoo]

 Do you get a crisper crust if you remove the parchment after the oven spring has set?

 

I don't know if the crust is any crispier, but when baking at really high temps I notice the parchment starts to scorch, so rather that wait for a fire, I like to remove it earlier.

[Shelby]

I use parchment when I make pizza.  My oven is up as high as it will go (around 525 degrees)  I leave it in the whole time.  It turns quite dark but I've never had a fire start.  And I make a lot of pizza. 

[Jim D.]

I will chime in with my support for using parchment.  One pizza disaster led me to convert:  One New Year's Eve I let people put on their own toppings, and of course they overdid it.  The weight of the toppings and the time it had taken to load up the pie meant the pizza would no longer slide off the peel (even though it had lots of cornmeal).  I had to cut it in half and get the halves on a cookie sheet.  It was a total mess--and with all the guests standing around waiting expectantly for their pizza.  (Some time later I learned that I could have folded the pizza in half and called it a calzone.)  Ever since I have done what Weinoo recommends.  After 4-5 minutes the crust has set enough, and I yank the parchment out of the oven.  You do lose some oven heat, but the crust still gets crispy and browns nicely--and the stress factor is nearly gone.

[Lisa Shock]

I use a screen.

[Smithy]

I use a screen.

Like a metal window screen, or like one of those perforated-metal pizza pans?

[MelissaH]

I've been known to use both parchment and screens (but not at the same time). My trick for the parchment is that once the dough is on the parchment, I get out my scissors and trim the parchment to within an inch of the dough. Less loose paper means less to burn.

[Lisa Shock]

Like a metal window screen, or like one of those perforated-metal pizza pans?

 

Neither. I worked at a pizza place as a teenager, we used screens and I just kept doing it at home. Here's one on Amazon. It's different from the perforated pans, in that it's a lot thinner, has a lot more exposed area, and has a really low edge. I generally remove it about halfway through the bake. They are really commonly used in pizza parlors, the three restaurant supply stores near me all carry a selection of them in various sizes -all under $10. I do find it useful to own several -that way, if you throw a party, you can prep multiple pies and have them waiting to go into the oven while the peel is busy extracting and turning.

[Smithy]

That looks like it would save on a lot of parchment paper. Thanks for the recommendation.

[Lisa Shock]

Every once in a while I spray mine with Pam. I don't bother to scrub it too much, unless there was some sort of overflow issue. After a while they develop a patina and the dough won't stick much at all. I suggest measuring your oven/stone before purchasing, they are made in all sorts of sizes some of which are way too large for home ovens. But, you probably want it as big as possible. You can always make a tiny pizza on a large screen, can't make a large pizza on a tiny screen.

[MelissaH]

Our screens seem to be identical to the ones Lisa linked to. I like them because they take all the worry out of pizza making. And the size we have fits in our Breville XL, which is really convenient! (Oh, sorry, that's another thread!)

[Lisa Shock]

I also use the screen for various types of artisan bread. As mentioned by others, you don't need parchment. I like that it doesn't create an air flow barrier the way a sheet pan would. It's less efficient in some cases (hard to put 5 baguettes on one) but for baking one big boule, it's great.

[dscheidt]

If I put cornmeal on the peel and shake the loaf onto the stone in the oven, how do I not end up with an oven full of burnt cornmeal?

 

Consider using a different flour for putting on the peel, as well.  I use semolina for pizza, and have used rice flour.  Both work very well, and are generally inoffensive tasting.  The semolina doesn't burn as badly as corn meal, at least the stuff that stays on the stone.  Stuff that makes it to the foor smokes.  I can't remember how the rice flour smoked or not.

[Barrytm]

The super peel is a great way to load bread or a pizza with no risk, and no flour.  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NGOOM6K?keywords=superpeel&qid=1445821457&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1   I use a regular metal peel to retrieve pizza, but nothing beats this for loading a pie into the oven -  I have not had a single pie stick to it, and I use a very hydration dough.